Customer Reviews

The Gunfight at Dodge City

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At a brisk 81 minutes, THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY, is an easy way to pass the time. The plot is rather predictable and there are few surprises, but Joel McCrea is such a good actor that he elevates the rather mediocre script. The titular gunfight takes place in the final five minutes of the movie, and is anti-climatic. However, there are things to enjoy in the movie, such as good character development and some well-filmed action scenes. All of the standard Western cliches are present, and the film certainly breaks no new ground as later Westertns would, but it's still worth watching at least once, especially for the underrated Joel McCrea.

Joel McCrea is one of Hollywood's most underrated actors. Like his contemporary with whom he is often associated, Randy Scott, he greatly enjoyed making Westerns. And he made some very good ones. While THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY doesn't rank with RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY or perhaps with some of McCrea's earlier work with Universal-International, it is a solid and enjoyable oater which repays re-watching. It is well cast and nicely filmed. Let's hope that this release will signal additional releases of McCrea Westerns....CATTLE DRIVE, SADDLE TRAMP, BORDER RIVER, STRANGER ON HORSEBACK....

This movie is a real treat and the picture clarity is outstanding, this is a top quality production DVD and it made my viewing it comfortable.
I am a western movie nut and do apreciate the quality of this DVD.
This movie, I honestly recommends to the other western nuts out there.

Happy viewing

Wally
Cayman Islands

In this 1959 film Bat Masterson states at the very outset that he is reluctant to engage in a gunfight and kill people; but despite his good intentions, he is drawn into several fights. An army sergeant is in love with a girl who happens to mention Masterson, and provokes the sergeant's jealousy. The sergeant tries to kill Masterson, but Masterson kills him instead. Now both the sergeant's brother and the sergeant's army buddies are out to get him.

Masterson goes to Dodge City where his brother is running against the incumbent sheriff who is aligned with outlaws. Masterson buys a share in a saloon. The sergeant's brother comes to Dodge City and kills Masterson's brother in revenge, but Masterson thinks that the renegade sheriff was the murderer. Masterson runs for sheriff and needs to find a way to rid the town of the rowdies. Two women vie for his affection. There is an attempted rape of one of the women. He is drawn into helping a retarded boy who was found guilty of murder and is scheduled to be hung. All in all, the film keeps the viewer's interest and is very good for a 1959 western.

Allied Artists Pictures presents "THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY" (1959) (81 min/Color) -- Starring Joel McCrea, Julie Adams, John McIntire, Nancy Gates, Richard Anderson & Walter Coy

Directed by Joseph M. Newman

With Gene Barry already riding the TV western range as legendary gunfighter-turned-lawman Bat Masterson, independent producer Walter Mirisch hired Joel McCrea to play a rather less-dandified version in this Cinemascope western. When his brother Ed (Harry Lauter) is cowardly shot in the back and killed, Bat accepts the offer to run for county sheriff against the corrupt Jim Regan (Don Haggerty), only to learn that the real killer is someone entirely different. Not wanting the job of sheriff in the first place but only accepting to please a lady friend, Pauline Howard (Julie Adams), Bat willingly breaks the law to aid an old friend (Walter Coy), almost losing both his position and his life in the ensuing shootout.

Special footnote: -- Julie Adams and McCrea do a great job. Their performances are really the chief reasons for you to watch this. McCrea was a subtle and effective actor, and here he foreshadows his work in the legendary "Ride The High Country" a few years later. Joel was in his latish fifties when the film was made, and it would have been a sad swan song for an usually-watchable actor; thank goodness he went onto make "Ride the High Country". This was to be the final film made by McCrea in his career. Good thing, Peckinpah saved him from this sad goodbye.

BIOS:
1. Joseph M. Newman (Director)
Date of Birth: 07 August 1909 - Logan, Utah
Date of Death: 23 January 2006 - Simi Valley, California

2. Joel McCrea
Date of Birth: 5 November 1905 - South Pasadena, California
Date of Death: 20 October 1990 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

3. Julie Adams [aka: Betty May Adams]
Date of Birth: 17 October 1926 - Waterloo, Iowa
Date of Death: Still Living

4. John McIntire [aka: John Herrick McIntire]
Date of Birth: 27 June 1907 - Spokane, Washington
Date of Death: 30 January 1991 - Pasadena, California

5. Nancy Gates [aka: Nancy Jane Gates]
Date of Birth: 1 February 1926 - Dallas, Texas
Date of Death: Still Living

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 81 min on VHS/DVD ~ Allied Artists Pictures ~ (May 13, 2008)

The Gunfight at Dodge CityReceived the DVD 12/06/08 which was before the date given (all that I have ordered from you have been).
On arrival the packaging was damaged and the case and insert were also, but have used another case which I had.
But have watched the movie and quality was exceptional, good story line and a good cast and in my mind Joel McCrea is up there with John Wayne, Randolph Scott et all.
I will be ordering more from you in the near future.
John Clarke from the UK

"The Gunfight at Dodge City" was one of many Western made by the great Joel McCrea, one of those actors who seemed born to play Western characters. He made several outstanding, many that were pretty good, and some that were at best, fair to middling.

This film falls into the fair to middling category. This fictionalized account of how gambler/gunfighter Bat Masterson became the marshal in Dodge City is uninvolving and takes too many shortcuts with logic and believability. Masterson becomes marshal when his brother is killed, but when the killer is discovered and is shot down by Masterson, the revelation of the killer's identity is regarded as an afterthought. Also, Masterson breaks the law by breaking the mental challenged brother of his friend Ben Thompson out of jail with very little regard for how that will affect his standing as a lawman. This device was used in other films like "The Law and Jake Wade," but to much better effect than in this film.

The movie is not horrible, but it's just not very good.

Joel McCrea made only a few good westerns. This is not a very good one. When Masterson became a law officer, he was about 22 years old. McCrea was 54 when this film was made. A film can be good, although it does not follow the facts, but this does not succeed as a fictive western. The love element was not very persuasive, either. McCrea is symphatetic, of course, but that is not enough. This is quite lethargic film.